Roused too early from recuperative Saturday morning sleep, I made my way to the Highline Ballroom for Lidia Bastianich’s 10am cooking demo. The room, already packed to capacity, was filled from the start with the enticing (yes, even at 10am) aroma of boiled octopus. Bastianich proceeded to make four dishes with the cephalopod—octopus salami, potato and octopus salad, whole boiled octopus with its reduced cooking liquid, and octopus-topped spaghetti with a tomato-, almond-, basil- pesto—while dispensing multiple gems of cooking advice. Among them: freezing octopus helps to tenderize it, don’t put oil in your pasta-cooking water, save your pasta water to toss with the finished dish and always finish cooking your pasta in its sauce (the last two are certified competition winners). The audience seemed thrilled with their new-found tricks, the only thing lacking, a bite of some delicious-smelling tentacle.